The American Public Power Association supports efforts in Congress to streamline the federal permitting and siting process, eliminate excessive regulatory barriers, and ensure more predictable and timely decisions from relevant federal agencies, it said in a Statement for the Record submitted to the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.
Energy Efficiency
California community choice aggregator Silicon Valley Clean Energy in June announced the official launch of its innovative new financing pilot program, designed to make clean energy home upgrades more accessible and affordable for residents across 13 Santa Clara County, California, communities. The
Reliability
The North American Electric Reliability Corporation on Jan. 5 said that it was monitoring impending extreme cold weather events forecast across much of the country starting over the weekend of Jan. 6-7 on the East Coast and followed by a series of powerful storms with the potential to create additional significant challenges across many states.
Bonds and Financing
Fitch Ratings has upgraded to “AA” from “AA-“ bonds issued by the City of Bryan, Texas, on behalf of the Bryan Texas Utilities city electric system.
Workforce
Joseph Wilson was named the next General Manager of Washington State’s Jefferson County PUD at the regular meeting of the PUD’s Board of Commissioners on July 15.
Workforce
The Board of Directors for California public power utility SMUD recently elected Rosanna Herber as President of the Board and Gregg Fishman as Vice President of the Board.
Electricity Markets
The Public Utility Commission of Texas has launched a survey of Texas electricity consumers to study the costs they may incur from power interruptions. Randomly selected residential, commercial, and large industrial electricity consumers in the ERCOT region will receive an email request to participate in the survey.
The Lansing Board of Water & Light (BWL) in Michigan has brought online a 250-megawatt (MW) natural gas-fired combined-cycle plant, replacing a retired coal-fired plant.
Electricity Markets
California CCA Pioneer Community Energy to Expand to 13 New Northern California Communities California community choice aggregator Pioneer Community Energy on July 16 announced its expansion into 13 new communities. A service launch date is set for October 2027.
Customer Service
Utilities face several challenges as they address an increasing number of outages. About 83% of major U.S. power outages between 2000 and 2021 were driven by weather-related events, according to Climate Central. As customers grapple with these rising power interruptions, 65% report that they’re frustrated with utilities’ impersonal communications. However, utilities can now address this communications challenge by taking advantage of AI. Rather than simply reacting to outages as they happen, power providers can embrace intelligent, customized, and proactive messaging that humanizes these crises for their customers.